The Story of a Knitter and the Three Socks

Once upon a time there was a knitter who was fairly new to the Land of Sock Knitting. It was not a scary place but many things seemed unfamiliar. Everything was knit on small needles and there were many decisions to make: toe up, cuff down, heel flaps, short row heels, and so on. But to make up for all the tiny knitting and all the thinking that needed to be done, there was yarn. Soft yarn. Beautiful yarn in wonderful colors. Yarn that begged to be knit into lovely things. It made the Land of Sock Knitting a very attractive place.

One day, some friends invited the knitter to knit with them. So the knitter started out to meet her friends and came across a pretty cottage. She knocked on the door and when nobody answered, she walked right in. There on the table was a ball of yarn, some tiny needles, and a pattern for picot edge socks. The knitter had tried these socks before but the cast on was too small. She wouldn't make that mistake again.

She settled herself into a chair and cast on again. She decided to make a few changes to be sure the sock wasn't too small. She cast on 72 stitches instead of 64, she used a stretchier cast on, and she happened to be using different needles. She knit and she knit and she knit. Finally, after about 12 rows, she tried on the sock. This one was too big!

The knitter was very tired by this time so she went upstairs to rest. When she woke up, she was going to try again with 64 stitches and the hope that this sock would be just right.